ART ushers in new default investment approach in new financial year

Over 1.4 million members of Australian Retirement Trust (ART) will transition into a new investment strategy as the fund pivots to a high-growth default offering in financial year 2024-25.

From 1 July 2024, the fund has announced it will invest members under the age of 50 into a MySuper investment strategy that is equivalent to the ART High Growth option.

The option, which sits in the SuperRatings SR50 Growth Index, is ART’s “strongest performing strategy over the past 10 years”, the fund said.

It holds almost 85 per cent in growth assets, which include Australian and international shares, unlisted assets, as well as alternatives such as infrastructure, property, and private equity. Around 15.25 per cent of the option is allocated to defensive assets.

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It has returned roughly 9 per cent per annum over 10 years to 31 March 2024 and saw its second consecutive year of double-digit returns for the financial year 2023-24, delivering 11.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, the fund’s balanced option, too, has seen high single digit returns of 9.9 per cent. 

ART chief investment officer, Ian Patrick, credits strong international and Australian equities as primary drivers for this outperformance.

“We’ve seen robust and consistent outperformance across the board,” he said.

Looking ahead, Patrick observed a more “constructive” outlook in the current investment environment for delivering on real return targets for members after recent decades of low interest rates and a challenging outlook for long-term super returns.

“Of course nothing is certain, but there is some comfort to take from this,” he said.

The $260 billion fund previously unveiled a streamlined suite of choice investment options across superannuation and retirement products in March, which will now commence in the new financial year.

At the time, ART chief of retirement, Kathy Vincent, explained the fund engaged with members, advisers, and employers in the designing of the suite.

“When we asked our members what they wanted most in a new investment menu, they told us performance, fees, sustainable investing, and the ability to choose the right level of risk were top priority – all of which remained front of mind when we worked to streamline these choice investment options,” Vincent said.

Commenting on the launch, ART CIO Patrick said the expanded suite will give members “freedom to awaken their super” by choosing from 15 options that “cover a broad range of objectives and investment timeframes to meet their goals and life stages.”